and gardener.... and mom... and artist... and weightlifter... and... GRANDMA!!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Understanding your Mad Art Teacher 2.0

Tonight is our Open House at school- and I am not ready.

I am ready for the kids and the parents to come in and look at me and my room, sort of, but I am so not ready for school to start. So therefore, I am incapable of sane decisions, rational thought and ability to complete tasks....... this boys and girls is how this art teacher rolls.

So what are the peculiarities of being an art teacher in September (or late August)?

Especially this particular one, who has a minimum of 6 different classes a day- with her preparation time mushed into her lunch (not good- just trust me on that) and who is constantly wanting to do something different.

Every year I start off wanting to redo my entire curriculum and lesson plans and my way of doing things and that does usually occur at the beginning. Then you pile on things like- homecoming, staff meetings, committee meetings, IEPs, interruptions, firedrills, inservice days, fall leaves, butterflies and shiny objects and you have plannus interruptus.

This year I have sort of on a whim purchased a new book (collective gasp- don't tell anyone that it is an actual hold in your hand, not a virtual, book- not to be viewed on any sort of a device) that has given me a slightly different angle to my High School classes. I am very excited about this and I hope that it will pan out with the students I have this year as well as I think it will. So when I get to school today it will be my job to totally reorganize my lesson plans for the majority of my classes.

This year I also have a minimum of 3 classes per hour in the High school. Yes, you read that right, and one of them has 4. Now granted these are smaller classes but the total in my room is good sized. How am I going to manage this? Well I think I have a plan for that-

I also plan to include some app based projects and we are going to go on a field trip (fingers crossed for good weather) soon!!! All of these things will make for some stressful moments I am sure, as I try to make myself 2 people.

My problem is that I am too damn visual for my own good. This is how I get myself into things- I see and my brain kicks in and then I do things and plan things and then I feel like I am meeting myself in the middle from all the comings and goings. And then I get to go to the elementary school!

I know how the first 2 weeks will go there, so I am in great shape! HA!

Anyway, after cleaning up after the cleaners (who do a fine job but have never quite managed to put things back where they found them) and putting away boxes of supplies, and then cleaning up after a "workshop" that was held in my art room (wouldn't you think grown-ups who are supposedly responsible adults could put things back where they found them) and hunting down the items that I hid last spring (in some cases not well enough) I barely have my room usable right now. And there is that lesson plan thing. And then there is the endless rounds of meetings that are cramping my style and my set up time and that is where working in two buildings is a real bummer. And in a couple of ill advised comments and a general feeling of panic to add to my day and now you can see why the Art Teacher had a meltdown of epic proportions yesterday that included a massive rant and temper tantrum that left 2 Mad-friends surprised and snickering at my lack of joyfulness (not in a bad way- it was sort of funny) (sort of) that led to me collapsing in a brain dead heap of uselessness that could only result in a slightly cleaner house and nothing much else accomplished.

Yeah.

So, I founda blog yesterday that amused me in many ways (this person could be my new best friend if we lived near each other, I am positive) but this particular part of one of her posts is very appropriate for today. Many of her posts would not be understood by the public at large- it is definitely something that gave me a chuckle and is alarmingly true!! if you do not understand or do not find this amusing, you need to go to bed and wake up fresh and then try again. If not, then maybe this is too art teacher specific as well. But I could read it again and again!! Hehehehe

Oh yes, and so it goes!

I love the beginning of the school year- it is such a time of promise and potential!

So fire up the coffee pot and lay out the healthy snacks (please don't feed me cake or cookies- for I am weak at school and I do NOT need them) and break out the paintbrushes. It is time for school to start!

1 comment:

OOOh yeah, i always know when the school year has turned the corner when as a sub I see plans including stuff like "free draw"! Hee hee! Students and the regular teacher are at my mercy.

Joy!

I'd show that video to your students! It's quite the hoot. Then, have them do comic strips featuring other new technologies: bicycle versus walking, car versus horse, tableware versus hands...or have them film a movie about it on their cute little iTrinkets...

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I like travel, chocolate, art, adventures, wine, tequila, dark beer and German pretzels.... (Not necessarily in that order!) ;) and all the people that accompany me on these circles around the sun. xoxo